MaryAnn Bernal's Blog, page 389
August 8, 2013
Home Wrecker I (Home Wrecker Chronicles) by Brenda Perlin: Tasty Summer Reads Blog Hop
Home Wrecker I (Home Wrecker Chronicles) by Brenda Perlin: Tasty Summer Reads Blog Hop: Greta Burroughs’ tagged me to be a part of the Tasty Summer Reads Blog Hop. To participate I am to post the answers to some "tasty&q...
The Phil Naessens Show 8-8-2013 The 2013-2014 NBA Regular Season Schedule
http://phillipnaessens.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/the-phil-naessens-show-8-8-2013-the-2013-2014-nba-regular-season-schedule/
The 2013-2014 NBA regular season shcedule has just been released and joining Phil to discuss the OKC Thunder is J.A. Sherman and to discuss the San Antonio Spurs is J.R. Wilco. The Los Angeles Clippers made big moves this off season and Steve Perrin stops by to discuss them and so much more on today’s Phil Naessens Show
The 2013-2014 NBA regular season shcedule has just been released and joining Phil to discuss the OKC Thunder is J.A. Sherman and to discuss the San Antonio Spurs is J.R. Wilco. The Los Angeles Clippers made big moves this off season and Steve Perrin stops by to discuss them and so much more on today’s Phil Naessens ShowHistory Trivia - King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor
August 8
70 The Tower of Antonia, military barracks built by Herod the Great in Jerusalem, and named after Herod's patron Mark Antony, was destroyed by Titus' army during the siege of Jerusalem.
117 Roman emperor Trajan died at Selinus (southern coast of Sicily) at age 63.
1220 Sweden was defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. The short-lived Swedish attempt to gain a foothold in Estonia was motivated by the quickly advancing Danish and German crusaders who had been able to conquer most of the area in the early 13th century.
1503 King James IV of Scotland married Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
70 The Tower of Antonia, military barracks built by Herod the Great in Jerusalem, and named after Herod's patron Mark Antony, was destroyed by Titus' army during the siege of Jerusalem.
117 Roman emperor Trajan died at Selinus (southern coast of Sicily) at age 63.
1220 Sweden was defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. The short-lived Swedish attempt to gain a foothold in Estonia was motivated by the quickly advancing Danish and German crusaders who had been able to conquer most of the area in the early 13th century.
1503 King James IV of Scotland married Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Stirring the Wizard's Cauldron - an interview with Mark Barry, author of Violent Disorder
Conjuring up the Wizard of Notts who is speaking with me in his author persona - so let's give a great round of applause for Mark Barry, novelist extraordinaire!
What do you think makes a good story?
I think you have to be a reader and a listener, and you have to love stories. Listening to them, overhearing them on the bus, watching them transpire in your life. Characters, pace, elements of surprise, digressions, and a memorable, heart rending climax are just the technical elements I can think of, but a story, a great story, is a gestalt: always greater than the sum of its parts.
What compelled you to write about violence in sports?
I know quite a few football hooligans, including the stars of Ultra Violence and Violent Disorder, and while other clubs have had books written about them, it was suggested to me that it was about time Notts County had one. The club had some very naughty boys following them at one point, but because the fans of the club are outnumbered five to one by Nottingham Forest, who have also been more successful on the pitch, the stories never got out. Any ethnic minority will tell you that their achievements are always suppressed, and Notts, apparently, are no different. Also, the two books represent all the small clubs who have thirty or so hooligans that never got any publicity because of the antics of the Legacy clubs such as Chelsea or Stoke City, who had gangs of a thousand hooligans. I thought it would be a different take on the subject, which despite a massive Political and Police crackdown, is still a feature of British football matches.
Which book was more difficult to write, Ultra Violence or its sequel, Violent Disorder? Be specific.
The second book without doubt. Ultra Violence took me eighteen days to write. It’s rough, raw and ready, and just flew out of me. I had been thinking of it for a couple of years, and so I knew what I was going to write. The two massive fight sequences - at Hartlepool and at home to Luton - are legendary at Notts, and they wrote themselves.
The sequel is much more personal to two of the characters in Ultra Violence, the crazy Bully brothers. It also contains a huge chapter about a very recent match versus Coventry, and the climax reads more like a fiction novel than a traditional “hooliporn” novel like Ultra Violence. It also took me nearly six months to write which for me, is like Joseph Heller’s third novel or Terence Malick’s latest film.
How did you come up with the title?
Violent Disorderis one of the most common offences for football hooligans on the British Statute Books. It’s also neatly connected with Ultra Violence. I was going to call it Bully Brothers, but one of the eponymous characters has done really well for himself in the interim and it wouldn’t have been fair, even though that title is a great book waiting to happen.
How did you come up with the unique cover? And speaking of covers, the second edition of Ultra Violence has a similar unique design. Was there a method to your madness?
The two covers, created by Dawn at Dark Dawn Creations, were based on a design by me, taken from a photo of us all in Tenerife in January 2006. Sixty of us went over there for the character named Haxford’s fiftieth birthday party. It’s a great photo, and as there are only ever going to be two books on this topic, I thought a little of the old Yin/Yang might go down well, so we halved the photo and played around with it. I quite like the concept.
What was your favorite chapter to write, and why?
I like the Peterborough chapter. Why? It’s completely bonkers. It has to be read to be believed. The last four pages took ages to write. I also like the Brentford chapter, which is quite well written, written with some experimental techniques I’ve been trying to use for a while, and the one where HobNob goes wandering with his son around an area of Nottingham called Hockley.
There are multiple themes running through the two books. Is there one particular cause you champion above all else?
Both books deal with the death of lower league football, the rise of Sky TV and the “plastic” fan. They also talk about the over-aged football hooligan who cannot let it go despite the fact they all should know better. In Ultra Violence, the Luton chapters and the Epilogue, where the gang prepare for one last fight, similar to the one at the end of Peckinpah’s great film, The Wild Bunch, pass muster with any I’ve written before or since. I have half another book on my PC called The Last Ride of the Should Know Better Club, about a coachload of over-aged yobs who follow Notts home and away, and I may do something with that next year. Great title, huh!
Which character would you choose to promote the book?
Mini-Beefy, HobNob’s son. He’s the most sensible one of the three of them, and he does Media Studies at A’Level.
With two books in the series, will there be a third?
No. I’ve run out of stories on this subject, and I’ve said what I have to say. Time to move onto other things.
Would you be willing to share a brief excerpt?
In the aftermath of the last match of the season, mobile phone calls are received which chart the battles flaring all over Nottingham. The narrator expressed surprise at what he hears…
Renfield turned to Bull. You know Jimbo?I do.He’s just been at it. He’s sixty? He was sixty at Bournemouth. They had a party for him.I know. Good, innit?I overheard this conversation. Sixty.To this day, I would not have believed that sixty year olds fought at football matches, but HobNob isn’t far off, only a decade and a bit away, and I looked at him, in his black shirt and full head of chestnut brown hair, trotting across the canal bridge, a man half his age. The sixty of my youth isn’t the sixty of this generation, the NHS performing miracles in keeping people alive. No more war, healthy eating, and health conscious wives with plenty of culinary ideas other than fish and chips. The end of cigarettes, changing genetic profiles, society’s veneration of everything young and the incredible sense of the pointlessness of the modern world.
Sixty.The more you looked at the issue of aged football hooligans, there was a certain amount of logic in it.It was just a number. One after fifty nine and one before sixty one. Some Sikh geezer ran the London Marathon, and he was 102. I know an eighty year old who runs ten kilometres a day.
Thirty years ago, sixty meant you were virtually dead, your shifts in a rice pudding factory a millstone around your neck. Weekends spent imprisoned in an armchair, your armchair, a seat to be avoided by everyone for more reasons than one; exhausted, watching a dead television with dead celebrities, dead themes, dead ideas, dead adverts, dead chat and dead game shows, drinking Double Diamond straight from the can and eating fish and chips (extinct fish, potatoes saturated in dead fat) straight from the racing pages of The Sun. Missus slaving, cooking and cleaning, transfixed by a reverie of hour-long Marigold fantasies involving fucking the smiling next door neighbour or sparkly shirted pub singers and/or cool, rum-throated Rastafarians with throbbing purple c***s, and eventually, Mr Sixty would nurture a streaky combover and his nostril gaps would swell like a pike’s gills, and his cheesy teeth would loosen: Tarnished eyes amidst sunken sockets. A scent sticking to him, a diaphanous presence the consistency of muslin in his faggy armchair on his faggy carpet with his faggy TV, and by the time he was sixty five and retired, he would be six feet under after a massive coronary and his missus of thirty years, before her month of grief was over, would be enjoying her next door neighbour’s salty c**k, her fantasies realised because her rice pudding husband was dead at sixty, she fancied her neighbour something rotten, and luckily for her, those feelings were reciprocated.
Today, the sixty-year-old was off his armchair. Having a good runabout in Nottingham Town Centre with his mates, his Hackett Cap and blouson, his hundred quid jeans, his Gazelles. Keeping fit, keeping active. A healthy regime for the modern age.Gym in the week. 10k on the treadmill. Five-a-side with the lads.Salads and plenty of extra virgin olive oil. No cigarettes.No drinking at lunchtime. No drinking in the week.Kick fuck out of some know-nothing Cov c**t on a Saturday afternoon with the chaps.No more armchairs any more.
All the heroes are on the streets.
Purchase Links:
Amazon UShttp://www.amazon.com/Violent-Disorde...
Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Violent-Disor...
What do you think makes a good story?
I think you have to be a reader and a listener, and you have to love stories. Listening to them, overhearing them on the bus, watching them transpire in your life. Characters, pace, elements of surprise, digressions, and a memorable, heart rending climax are just the technical elements I can think of, but a story, a great story, is a gestalt: always greater than the sum of its parts.
What compelled you to write about violence in sports?
I know quite a few football hooligans, including the stars of Ultra Violence and Violent Disorder, and while other clubs have had books written about them, it was suggested to me that it was about time Notts County had one. The club had some very naughty boys following them at one point, but because the fans of the club are outnumbered five to one by Nottingham Forest, who have also been more successful on the pitch, the stories never got out. Any ethnic minority will tell you that their achievements are always suppressed, and Notts, apparently, are no different. Also, the two books represent all the small clubs who have thirty or so hooligans that never got any publicity because of the antics of the Legacy clubs such as Chelsea or Stoke City, who had gangs of a thousand hooligans. I thought it would be a different take on the subject, which despite a massive Political and Police crackdown, is still a feature of British football matches.
Which book was more difficult to write, Ultra Violence or its sequel, Violent Disorder? Be specific.
The second book without doubt. Ultra Violence took me eighteen days to write. It’s rough, raw and ready, and just flew out of me. I had been thinking of it for a couple of years, and so I knew what I was going to write. The two massive fight sequences - at Hartlepool and at home to Luton - are legendary at Notts, and they wrote themselves.
The sequel is much more personal to two of the characters in Ultra Violence, the crazy Bully brothers. It also contains a huge chapter about a very recent match versus Coventry, and the climax reads more like a fiction novel than a traditional “hooliporn” novel like Ultra Violence. It also took me nearly six months to write which for me, is like Joseph Heller’s third novel or Terence Malick’s latest film.
How did you come up with the title?
Violent Disorderis one of the most common offences for football hooligans on the British Statute Books. It’s also neatly connected with Ultra Violence. I was going to call it Bully Brothers, but one of the eponymous characters has done really well for himself in the interim and it wouldn’t have been fair, even though that title is a great book waiting to happen.
How did you come up with the unique cover? And speaking of covers, the second edition of Ultra Violence has a similar unique design. Was there a method to your madness?
The two covers, created by Dawn at Dark Dawn Creations, were based on a design by me, taken from a photo of us all in Tenerife in January 2006. Sixty of us went over there for the character named Haxford’s fiftieth birthday party. It’s a great photo, and as there are only ever going to be two books on this topic, I thought a little of the old Yin/Yang might go down well, so we halved the photo and played around with it. I quite like the concept.
What was your favorite chapter to write, and why?
I like the Peterborough chapter. Why? It’s completely bonkers. It has to be read to be believed. The last four pages took ages to write. I also like the Brentford chapter, which is quite well written, written with some experimental techniques I’ve been trying to use for a while, and the one where HobNob goes wandering with his son around an area of Nottingham called Hockley.
There are multiple themes running through the two books. Is there one particular cause you champion above all else?
Both books deal with the death of lower league football, the rise of Sky TV and the “plastic” fan. They also talk about the over-aged football hooligan who cannot let it go despite the fact they all should know better. In Ultra Violence, the Luton chapters and the Epilogue, where the gang prepare for one last fight, similar to the one at the end of Peckinpah’s great film, The Wild Bunch, pass muster with any I’ve written before or since. I have half another book on my PC called The Last Ride of the Should Know Better Club, about a coachload of over-aged yobs who follow Notts home and away, and I may do something with that next year. Great title, huh!
Which character would you choose to promote the book?
Mini-Beefy, HobNob’s son. He’s the most sensible one of the three of them, and he does Media Studies at A’Level.
With two books in the series, will there be a third?
No. I’ve run out of stories on this subject, and I’ve said what I have to say. Time to move onto other things.
Would you be willing to share a brief excerpt?
In the aftermath of the last match of the season, mobile phone calls are received which chart the battles flaring all over Nottingham. The narrator expressed surprise at what he hears…
Renfield turned to Bull. You know Jimbo?I do.He’s just been at it. He’s sixty? He was sixty at Bournemouth. They had a party for him.I know. Good, innit?I overheard this conversation. Sixty.To this day, I would not have believed that sixty year olds fought at football matches, but HobNob isn’t far off, only a decade and a bit away, and I looked at him, in his black shirt and full head of chestnut brown hair, trotting across the canal bridge, a man half his age. The sixty of my youth isn’t the sixty of this generation, the NHS performing miracles in keeping people alive. No more war, healthy eating, and health conscious wives with plenty of culinary ideas other than fish and chips. The end of cigarettes, changing genetic profiles, society’s veneration of everything young and the incredible sense of the pointlessness of the modern world.
Sixty.The more you looked at the issue of aged football hooligans, there was a certain amount of logic in it.It was just a number. One after fifty nine and one before sixty one. Some Sikh geezer ran the London Marathon, and he was 102. I know an eighty year old who runs ten kilometres a day.
Thirty years ago, sixty meant you were virtually dead, your shifts in a rice pudding factory a millstone around your neck. Weekends spent imprisoned in an armchair, your armchair, a seat to be avoided by everyone for more reasons than one; exhausted, watching a dead television with dead celebrities, dead themes, dead ideas, dead adverts, dead chat and dead game shows, drinking Double Diamond straight from the can and eating fish and chips (extinct fish, potatoes saturated in dead fat) straight from the racing pages of The Sun. Missus slaving, cooking and cleaning, transfixed by a reverie of hour-long Marigold fantasies involving fucking the smiling next door neighbour or sparkly shirted pub singers and/or cool, rum-throated Rastafarians with throbbing purple c***s, and eventually, Mr Sixty would nurture a streaky combover and his nostril gaps would swell like a pike’s gills, and his cheesy teeth would loosen: Tarnished eyes amidst sunken sockets. A scent sticking to him, a diaphanous presence the consistency of muslin in his faggy armchair on his faggy carpet with his faggy TV, and by the time he was sixty five and retired, he would be six feet under after a massive coronary and his missus of thirty years, before her month of grief was over, would be enjoying her next door neighbour’s salty c**k, her fantasies realised because her rice pudding husband was dead at sixty, she fancied her neighbour something rotten, and luckily for her, those feelings were reciprocated.
Today, the sixty-year-old was off his armchair. Having a good runabout in Nottingham Town Centre with his mates, his Hackett Cap and blouson, his hundred quid jeans, his Gazelles. Keeping fit, keeping active. A healthy regime for the modern age.Gym in the week. 10k on the treadmill. Five-a-side with the lads.Salads and plenty of extra virgin olive oil. No cigarettes.No drinking at lunchtime. No drinking in the week.Kick fuck out of some know-nothing Cov c**t on a Saturday afternoon with the chaps.No more armchairs any more.
All the heroes are on the streets.
Purchase Links:
Amazon UShttp://www.amazon.com/Violent-Disorde...
Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Violent-Disor...
August 7, 2013
The Phil Naessens Show 8-7-2013 The Minus David Wright Edition
http://phillipnaessens.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/the-minus-david-wright-edition/
David Wright is out for 3-5 weeks, Bobby Parnell may need surgery and Jordany Valdespin wound up getting suspended for 50 games. These are just some of the stories Blogging Mets Mark Berman discuss plus the guys also discuss whether or not it’s the right time to move David Wright to first base plus much more on today’s Phil Naessens Show.
David Wright is out for 3-5 weeks, Bobby Parnell may need surgery and Jordany Valdespin wound up getting suspended for 50 games. These are just some of the stories Blogging Mets Mark Berman discuss plus the guys also discuss whether or not it’s the right time to move David Wright to first base plus much more on today’s Phil Naessens Show.
History Trivia - Macbeth performed at Hampton Court for the first time
August 7
322 BC Battle of Crannon: Macedonian forces of Antipater and Craterus and rebellious Greek forces led by the Athenians, was the decisive battle of the Lamian War, following the death of Alexander the Great. The Greeks sued for peace which marked the end of city-state freedom from Macedonian hegemony in Greece.
317 Roman Emperor Flavius Julius Constantius was born.
626 The Avar and Slav armies left the siege of Constantinople, which kept the Byzantine Empire intact.
936 Coronation of King Otto I of Germany. He would become the first Holy Roman Emperor since Charlemagne.
1420 Construction of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore began in Florence.
1427 The Visconti of Milan's fleet was destroyed by the Venetians on the Po River.
1485 Henry VII's army landed in Milford Harbor, South-Wales, a Lancastrian stronghold, and amassed an army to seize the crown from Richard III who was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485.
1606 The first documented performance of Macbeth was performed at the Great Hall at Hampton Court.
322 BC Battle of Crannon: Macedonian forces of Antipater and Craterus and rebellious Greek forces led by the Athenians, was the decisive battle of the Lamian War, following the death of Alexander the Great. The Greeks sued for peace which marked the end of city-state freedom from Macedonian hegemony in Greece.
317 Roman Emperor Flavius Julius Constantius was born.
626 The Avar and Slav armies left the siege of Constantinople, which kept the Byzantine Empire intact.
936 Coronation of King Otto I of Germany. He would become the first Holy Roman Emperor since Charlemagne.
1420 Construction of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore began in Florence.
1427 The Visconti of Milan's fleet was destroyed by the Venetians on the Po River.
1485 Henry VII's army landed in Milford Harbor, South-Wales, a Lancastrian stronghold, and amassed an army to seize the crown from Richard III who was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485.
1606 The first documented performance of Macbeth was performed at the Great Hall at Hampton Court.
Fantasy and thriller writer Sarah PJ White interviews Mary Ann Bernal
http://sarahpjwhite.com/mary-ann-bernal-author-spotlight-28.html#comment-488
Mary Ann Bernal – Author Spotlight #28Posted on August 7, 2013 by SarahPJWhite It’s Wednesday, which can only mean it’s author interview time again, so this week I am shining the Author Spotlight on – Mary Ann Bernal!
What inspired you to write your first book?
Mary Ann BernalMy Erik the Viking character was born after having seen the period Hollywood blockbusters, such as The Vikings, Ivanhoe, Knights of the Roundtable, The Longships, just to name a few.
Do you have a specific writing style, Mary Ann?
Writing concise and clear sentences in third person in past tense. One of my published short stories was written in first person, and while it worked for the story, it is not my personal preference.
Describe a typical writing session or your typical writing areaAfter having tried different times of the day to set pen to paper, or rather keyboard strokes on a Word document, writing in the afternoon works best for my schedule. I have an electric typewriting table that allows me to adjust the height easily. Having the flexibility permits me to stand when sitting too long affects one’s back and neck.
So Mary Ann, what are your current projects?The Briton and the Dane: Timeline, a stand-alone novel of The Briton and the Dane trilogy, will be published in 2014. While my genre is historical fiction, this story has a different twist – time travel. There is plenty of action and adventure, with a dash of romance, and a powerful ending.
What books have most influenced your life most?Ivanhoe, which was romanticized on the big screen, and being an impressible teenager… I love being an incurable romantic – there is hope for the human race. Need I say more?
If you had to choose, Mary Ann, which writer would you consider a mentor?Sir Walter Scott – his works are still in vogue today – a wonderful legacy to emulate.
Who is your favourite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?Steven Saylor – his novels immerse the reader into another time period and his characters are powerful and interesting.
What book are you reading now?Charlemagne by Derek Wilson
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest, Mary Ann?Indie author, Mark Barry, has published well written contemporary fiction, my favorite novels being Hollywood Shakedown and Carla. Elisabeth Marrion has published The Night I Danced with Rommel, which is based on a true story – the heroine is her mother. Ngaire Elder’s The Adventures of Cecilia Spark is a wonderful children’s book author whose works are also enjoyable for adults.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?There is nothing I would change – I love the story the way it is written.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?To stay with the original story. The Briton and the Dane started out as Gwyneth and Erik’s story, but suddenly, the minor characters started to demand more air time, and I capitulated, giving birth to the trilogy.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?Keeping an accurate map of the locations of every character roaming about not only Britannia, but the European continent as well.
Mary Ann, do you have any general advice for other writers?Never give up on the dream God has put in your heart.
Do you write an outline before every book you write?For my first title, I wrote an outline that quickly went into the circular file, because the chapters changed during the writing process.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?Read Indie authors – there are quite a number of talented people in this up and coming group.
Mary Ann and Her Latest Novel – ‘The Briton and the Dane: Concordia’My thanks to Mary Ann Bernal for agreeing to be interviewed. If you’d like to find out more information on Mary Ann, you can check out her website at:
www.maryannbernal.com
Mary Ann’s latest novel, entitled ‘The Briton and the Dane: Concordia’ is available now on Amazon – just click on the links below! You can also read more information on ‘The Briton and the Dane: Concordia’ and her thoughts behind it, by checking out my Share Saturday post here - from Saturday onwards.
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Mary Ann Bernal – Author Spotlight #28Posted on August 7, 2013 by SarahPJWhite It’s Wednesday, which can only mean it’s author interview time again, so this week I am shining the Author Spotlight on – Mary Ann Bernal!
What inspired you to write your first book?
Mary Ann BernalMy Erik the Viking character was born after having seen the period Hollywood blockbusters, such as The Vikings, Ivanhoe, Knights of the Roundtable, The Longships, just to name a few.Do you have a specific writing style, Mary Ann?
Writing concise and clear sentences in third person in past tense. One of my published short stories was written in first person, and while it worked for the story, it is not my personal preference.
Describe a typical writing session or your typical writing areaAfter having tried different times of the day to set pen to paper, or rather keyboard strokes on a Word document, writing in the afternoon works best for my schedule. I have an electric typewriting table that allows me to adjust the height easily. Having the flexibility permits me to stand when sitting too long affects one’s back and neck.
So Mary Ann, what are your current projects?The Briton and the Dane: Timeline, a stand-alone novel of The Briton and the Dane trilogy, will be published in 2014. While my genre is historical fiction, this story has a different twist – time travel. There is plenty of action and adventure, with a dash of romance, and a powerful ending.
What books have most influenced your life most?Ivanhoe, which was romanticized on the big screen, and being an impressible teenager… I love being an incurable romantic – there is hope for the human race. Need I say more?
If you had to choose, Mary Ann, which writer would you consider a mentor?Sir Walter Scott – his works are still in vogue today – a wonderful legacy to emulate.
Who is your favourite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?Steven Saylor – his novels immerse the reader into another time period and his characters are powerful and interesting.
What book are you reading now?Charlemagne by Derek Wilson
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest, Mary Ann?Indie author, Mark Barry, has published well written contemporary fiction, my favorite novels being Hollywood Shakedown and Carla. Elisabeth Marrion has published The Night I Danced with Rommel, which is based on a true story – the heroine is her mother. Ngaire Elder’s The Adventures of Cecilia Spark is a wonderful children’s book author whose works are also enjoyable for adults.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?There is nothing I would change – I love the story the way it is written.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?To stay with the original story. The Briton and the Dane started out as Gwyneth and Erik’s story, but suddenly, the minor characters started to demand more air time, and I capitulated, giving birth to the trilogy.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?Keeping an accurate map of the locations of every character roaming about not only Britannia, but the European continent as well.
Mary Ann, do you have any general advice for other writers?Never give up on the dream God has put in your heart.
Do you write an outline before every book you write?For my first title, I wrote an outline that quickly went into the circular file, because the chapters changed during the writing process.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?Read Indie authors – there are quite a number of talented people in this up and coming group.
Mary Ann and Her Latest Novel – ‘The Briton and the Dane: Concordia’My thanks to Mary Ann Bernal for agreeing to be interviewed. If you’d like to find out more information on Mary Ann, you can check out her website at:
www.maryannbernal.com
Mary Ann’s latest novel, entitled ‘The Briton and the Dane: Concordia’ is available now on Amazon – just click on the links below! You can also read more information on ‘The Briton and the Dane: Concordia’ and her thoughts behind it, by checking out my Share Saturday post here - from Saturday onwards.
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
August 6, 2013
Stirring the Wizard's Cauldron - Ngaire Elder interviews author Mark Barry
http://greenwizard62.blogspot.com/2013/08/ngaire-elder-meets-mark-barry-around.html
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Ngaire and friend Lu on her birthday this
yearEarlier this year, top children's author Ngaire Elder conducted a series of interviews with a variety of authors around the Cauldron.
Check for some of these on the right column as you look. They're good.
They were well received by wizardwatchers and by popular demand, Ngaire is going to be joining the Cauldron every month or so to demonstrate her pithy, humorous brand of interview.
Today, she meets, for the second time, writer Mark Barry, author of seven novels including this month's release "Violent Disorder".
From Nottingham, a father of one son and a passionate supporter of Notts County Football Club, the oldest football league club in the world, the two spoke on the phone as the dispute between Spain, (where Ngaire lives, in a fourteenth century castle in Jerez) and the UK (where Mark lives, in a flat), boiled over in the background.
__________________
Hi Mark,
Hi Ngaire. Lovely to be back on my show...
Mark Barry
Haha, lovely to have you. You have recently published a novel, Violent Disorder, the long awaited sequel to your bestselling novel, Ultra Violence, tell us about it.
It’s about two brothers, supporters and ex-hooligans at an East Midlands football club, Notts County, the oldest league club in the world, who tell more of their tales to the young Internet writer who wrote the first book.
All the time, the spectre of the modern world overwhelms them and there is a big match coming up against a team with a massive gang of hooligans. Will they retire gracefully? Or will they join in the Saturday afternoon hi jinks and risk everything on one last fight.
Were there any aspects of the book that were difficult to write? And, what did you hope to achieve from writing Violent Disorder?
No, I’ve only ever written one difficult book and that’s Carla. That was a complex book in many ways.
Simple on one level and multi-layered on another. Violent Disorder was a relatively easy book to write.
What do I want to achieve? I want the readers to have fun and enjoy the books. My two football hooligan novels are based on real people, real stories and mythic events. Ultra Violence sold far more than I expected, and I hope the sequel, Violent Disorder, does the same.
What was your favourite chapter (or part) to write and why?
I like the Peterborough chapter. Bonkers. You have to read it to believe it. I can scarcely believe it myself.
Is anything in Violent Disorder based on real life experiences or is it all purely imagination?
This is a work of pure fiction. Honest, guv.
Your background of psychology, did it come in useful, did it help you research and understand the behavioural aspects associated with sports violence?
Not really. There is a chapter in there about zero-hours contracts, which I compare to Seligman’s experiments on dogs in 1974.
Seligman meets the Dalai Lama
You won't take this seriously after you've read the Zero Hour
Contracts chapter.All my books are couched in Psychology, particularly some of the wilder experiments and darker areas. In both books, my background in history was much more use to me.
Some of the behaviour exhibited by the gangs in both of the books go back a thousand years, and I draw parallels all the way through.
Hastings
“High-profile outbreaks of violence involving fans are much rarer today than they were 20 or 30 years ago. The scale of trouble now compared to then doesn't bear comparison - either in terms of the number of people involved or the level of organisation. Football has moved on thanks to banning orders and better, more sophisticated policing”. (source http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football... David Bond)
Would you agree with this statement?
I would. William has it tighter than a drum nowadays, guv, but it still goes off, mostly in the lower leagues where there isn’t so much policing and CCTV.
The EPL is too high profile, and there’s too much money involved for the likes of hooligans to spoil everyone’s day out. No lower leagues. I hear that hundreds of Forest and Derby turn out at Alfreton Town in the Conference, for example. Here’s an extract…
I mean, he said, a bit drunk and earnest, Forest are down to a hundred now, if that. Probably less. You think we’re old c**s? They’re all even older. They’re past it. All dead or claiming pensions. They don’t bother going. Notts have more lads – more young lads any road. Anyway, forget them – if you want a scrap, you have to go lower division. Conference…Alfreton Town versus Grimsby. Grimsby versus Mansfield. Any contest involving Lincoln. Look at Nuneaton. 80 arrests. 150 old LTE trapped on a Nuneaton Council Estate. Three hundred locals putting the windows through. A thousand coppers keeping them apart. Planned for months. Look at Stockport vs Kiddy last week. Rioting in the Town Centre. There’s no trouble in the EPL. You’d be lucky to find a Chelsea hooligan nowadays. F**k the Football Factory…I mean, you may as well read historical fiction as that c**t. Nah, Forest has been over-policed for years and the young uns come down here. No coppers.
Don’t they get on now? HobNob asked. Notts and Forest?
Renfield wiped his nose on the back of his hand and nodded. Yep. Not like our day.
Warning: Violent video - Cardiff versus Swansea at Newbury Races
A heartwarming vision of racial harmony
on the pitch at the Boleyn Stadium, during a West Ham
Millwall game
What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
The first criticism of Hollywood Shakedown. I received before I started Green Wizard. It was two boots in the face stuff and luckily, seven books on, I have yet to have anything like that level of criticism. I've been lucky. The vast majority of my reviews have been positive.
_________________
A lovely but dark tale of love with hints of Wuthering Heights. Deep, passionate, beautifully penned. A definite must read! (Carla, Chloe Fredericks, New York, 2012)
Best book I've ever read but crying at the moment. I have borderline personality disorder and could relate to this just wish there was a happy ever after for John and Carla (Carla, Megan, Amazon, 2013)
__________________
I've just seen a seriously evil review of a book by one Richard Long, a horror novel called The Book of Paul. It's a horrific review and he's gone potty about it. I think the review, by one Linda Pepper, has gone all over the internet. Danged if I'd like that one on my Amazon.
What has been the best compliment?
My best is Mary Quallo’s review of The Ritual (on Amazon). Made me proud to read it. Also the moment when Brenda Perlin, in conversation with me about Carla, said I write like JD Salinger. That made me buzz.
Also, If you check the interviews on the Cauldron, Jo (Lelani Black) recommended Carla has one of her three Desert Island Books and I was well chuffed with that.
All of my friends have been kind to me and I've met so many through writing these books that I treasure all the good stuff. I read the negative stuff though and am glad people have taken the time to criticise the work.
I also notice when people haven't finished one of my books. This has been noted, gang...hehehehehe...
Is there an Author that you would really like to meet?
Lots. You, Mary Ann, K-Trina, Jo, (AKA, Lelani Black, preferably in Hawaii haha), Brenda, Emma Edwards, Sarah Tipper, Wendy, Matt Posner, Gladys Quintal, Rae Gee and all these terrific writers I meet online every day of the week.
We are blessed, aren't we. All these terrific people.
Right, Mark. Some lovely people out there. And wonderful writers.
Too right! Of the “name” writers, I’d like to meet Martin Amis, my literary hero, though he is supposed to be a bit arsy, so I might skip that.
Martin Amis
How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?
Like most Indie authors, I use Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. I have four blogs including this one. I also use other sites including Library Thing, Shelfari and Book Matchers. My books can be found in many different places on various profile sites.
The chap who founded Proctor and Gamble, the washing powder company, once said that we know that 50% of advertising works – we just don’t know which 50%! I guess this sums up how I feel about which is the most successful avenue.
Proctor and Gamble
I recently read that your hobbies include beekeeping and spelunking, care to reveal more about these interests?
Hhahahahahahhaha…I love my beekeeping, and one day will have a hive of my own. I once won £2000 for beehive making equipment on the community farm where I used to work. I was more proud of that than much of the work I’ve done in the past. Spelunking? I shall leave that to your imagination!
What was the last book you read?
“Jacks Return Home” by Ted Lewis, the model for Get Carter. A great seventies book.
Ted Lewis
Mark, you broke your banning order and were picked up by the cops at the final of Notts County Vs Forest game. Your incarceration officer has a big heart and lets you choose one board game, and a comic from the recreation room and a choice of one of the following: Jolly Ranchers, Spangles or Texan bar … tell us what you choose.
One board game? Hmmmmmmmmmm….Risk. Loved that game.
A comic? My favourite two comics (one story, would be the original death of Warlock and Thanos in Avengers Annual 7 and Marvel Two in One 2.)
Two magnificent comics
Written and drawn by Jim Starlin, these are commonly thought of as highwater marks in comic history. The battle scenes are incredible, the art is sublime, and you genuinely care what happens to everyone involved. Spider Man, watching the battle unfurl involving Thor, Iron Man, Thanos et al, hides in a ventilation duct and say “whoooops, time to get my spider self out of here. I’m way out of my power league!” Which was ground breaking reality for comics at the time and a direct link into today’s realistic approach to superheroes. Unfortunately, these go for about sixty quid a piece in decent nick otherwise, I would recommend them.
Sweeties? Spangles. Jolly Ranchers bring me out in boils and Texan bars have an er, unfortunate look as every school kid at the time will tell you. Along with Nutty bars.
Finally, where can fans of Mark Barry find out more and purchase Violent Disorder?
Amazon US
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon UK
Mark, I have to go and feed the horses!
Oh that's a shame!?
It's been a pleasure being on your show and I wish you all the best with Violent Disorder and other books...
Ngaire, the pleasure as always is all mine.
The man of many (black) shirts cooks up a storm at Sherwood
Towers Beer Garden (renovated) for Roy and Helen Sherwood, Jordan Sherwood,
Polly Sherwood, Callum, Freya, Green Wizard reader and
chief Wizardwatcher Kelly Sherwood ,and
urbane birthday boy Seth Wainwright
Carla - a parallel world.perfect score....
Tuesday, 6 August 2013 .jpg)
Ngaire and friend Lu on her birthday thisyearEarlier this year, top children's author Ngaire Elder conducted a series of interviews with a variety of authors around the Cauldron.
Check for some of these on the right column as you look. They're good.
They were well received by wizardwatchers and by popular demand, Ngaire is going to be joining the Cauldron every month or so to demonstrate her pithy, humorous brand of interview.
Today, she meets, for the second time, writer Mark Barry, author of seven novels including this month's release "Violent Disorder".
From Nottingham, a father of one son and a passionate supporter of Notts County Football Club, the oldest football league club in the world, the two spoke on the phone as the dispute between Spain, (where Ngaire lives, in a fourteenth century castle in Jerez) and the UK (where Mark lives, in a flat), boiled over in the background.
__________________
Hi Mark,
Hi Ngaire. Lovely to be back on my show...
Mark BarryHaha, lovely to have you. You have recently published a novel, Violent Disorder, the long awaited sequel to your bestselling novel, Ultra Violence, tell us about it.
It’s about two brothers, supporters and ex-hooligans at an East Midlands football club, Notts County, the oldest league club in the world, who tell more of their tales to the young Internet writer who wrote the first book.
All the time, the spectre of the modern world overwhelms them and there is a big match coming up against a team with a massive gang of hooligans. Will they retire gracefully? Or will they join in the Saturday afternoon hi jinks and risk everything on one last fight.
Were there any aspects of the book that were difficult to write? And, what did you hope to achieve from writing Violent Disorder?
No, I’ve only ever written one difficult book and that’s Carla. That was a complex book in many ways.
Simple on one level and multi-layered on another. Violent Disorder was a relatively easy book to write.
What do I want to achieve? I want the readers to have fun and enjoy the books. My two football hooligan novels are based on real people, real stories and mythic events. Ultra Violence sold far more than I expected, and I hope the sequel, Violent Disorder, does the same.
What was your favourite chapter (or part) to write and why?
I like the Peterborough chapter. Bonkers. You have to read it to believe it. I can scarcely believe it myself.
Is anything in Violent Disorder based on real life experiences or is it all purely imagination?
This is a work of pure fiction. Honest, guv.
Your background of psychology, did it come in useful, did it help you research and understand the behavioural aspects associated with sports violence?
Not really. There is a chapter in there about zero-hours contracts, which I compare to Seligman’s experiments on dogs in 1974.
Seligman meets the Dalai LamaYou won't take this seriously after you've read the Zero Hour
Contracts chapter.All my books are couched in Psychology, particularly some of the wilder experiments and darker areas. In both books, my background in history was much more use to me.
Some of the behaviour exhibited by the gangs in both of the books go back a thousand years, and I draw parallels all the way through.
Hastings“High-profile outbreaks of violence involving fans are much rarer today than they were 20 or 30 years ago. The scale of trouble now compared to then doesn't bear comparison - either in terms of the number of people involved or the level of organisation. Football has moved on thanks to banning orders and better, more sophisticated policing”. (source http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football... David Bond)
Would you agree with this statement?
I would. William has it tighter than a drum nowadays, guv, but it still goes off, mostly in the lower leagues where there isn’t so much policing and CCTV.
The EPL is too high profile, and there’s too much money involved for the likes of hooligans to spoil everyone’s day out. No lower leagues. I hear that hundreds of Forest and Derby turn out at Alfreton Town in the Conference, for example. Here’s an extract…
I mean, he said, a bit drunk and earnest, Forest are down to a hundred now, if that. Probably less. You think we’re old c**s? They’re all even older. They’re past it. All dead or claiming pensions. They don’t bother going. Notts have more lads – more young lads any road. Anyway, forget them – if you want a scrap, you have to go lower division. Conference…Alfreton Town versus Grimsby. Grimsby versus Mansfield. Any contest involving Lincoln. Look at Nuneaton. 80 arrests. 150 old LTE trapped on a Nuneaton Council Estate. Three hundred locals putting the windows through. A thousand coppers keeping them apart. Planned for months. Look at Stockport vs Kiddy last week. Rioting in the Town Centre. There’s no trouble in the EPL. You’d be lucky to find a Chelsea hooligan nowadays. F**k the Football Factory…I mean, you may as well read historical fiction as that c**t. Nah, Forest has been over-policed for years and the young uns come down here. No coppers.
Don’t they get on now? HobNob asked. Notts and Forest?
Renfield wiped his nose on the back of his hand and nodded. Yep. Not like our day.
Warning: Violent video - Cardiff versus Swansea at Newbury Races
A heartwarming vision of racial harmony on the pitch at the Boleyn Stadium, during a West Ham
Millwall game
What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
The first criticism of Hollywood Shakedown. I received before I started Green Wizard. It was two boots in the face stuff and luckily, seven books on, I have yet to have anything like that level of criticism. I've been lucky. The vast majority of my reviews have been positive.
_________________
A lovely but dark tale of love with hints of Wuthering Heights. Deep, passionate, beautifully penned. A definite must read! (Carla, Chloe Fredericks, New York, 2012)
Best book I've ever read but crying at the moment. I have borderline personality disorder and could relate to this just wish there was a happy ever after for John and Carla (Carla, Megan, Amazon, 2013)
__________________
I've just seen a seriously evil review of a book by one Richard Long, a horror novel called The Book of Paul. It's a horrific review and he's gone potty about it. I think the review, by one Linda Pepper, has gone all over the internet. Danged if I'd like that one on my Amazon.
What has been the best compliment?
My best is Mary Quallo’s review of The Ritual (on Amazon). Made me proud to read it. Also the moment when Brenda Perlin, in conversation with me about Carla, said I write like JD Salinger. That made me buzz.
Also, If you check the interviews on the Cauldron, Jo (Lelani Black) recommended Carla has one of her three Desert Island Books and I was well chuffed with that.
All of my friends have been kind to me and I've met so many through writing these books that I treasure all the good stuff. I read the negative stuff though and am glad people have taken the time to criticise the work.
I also notice when people haven't finished one of my books. This has been noted, gang...hehehehehe...
Is there an Author that you would really like to meet?
Lots. You, Mary Ann, K-Trina, Jo, (AKA, Lelani Black, preferably in Hawaii haha), Brenda, Emma Edwards, Sarah Tipper, Wendy, Matt Posner, Gladys Quintal, Rae Gee and all these terrific writers I meet online every day of the week.
We are blessed, aren't we. All these terrific people.
Right, Mark. Some lovely people out there. And wonderful writers.
Too right! Of the “name” writers, I’d like to meet Martin Amis, my literary hero, though he is supposed to be a bit arsy, so I might skip that.
Martin AmisHow do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?
Like most Indie authors, I use Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. I have four blogs including this one. I also use other sites including Library Thing, Shelfari and Book Matchers. My books can be found in many different places on various profile sites.
The chap who founded Proctor and Gamble, the washing powder company, once said that we know that 50% of advertising works – we just don’t know which 50%! I guess this sums up how I feel about which is the most successful avenue.
Proctor and GambleI recently read that your hobbies include beekeeping and spelunking, care to reveal more about these interests?
Hhahahahahahhaha…I love my beekeeping, and one day will have a hive of my own. I once won £2000 for beehive making equipment on the community farm where I used to work. I was more proud of that than much of the work I’ve done in the past. Spelunking? I shall leave that to your imagination!
What was the last book you read?
“Jacks Return Home” by Ted Lewis, the model for Get Carter. A great seventies book.
Ted LewisMark, you broke your banning order and were picked up by the cops at the final of Notts County Vs Forest game. Your incarceration officer has a big heart and lets you choose one board game, and a comic from the recreation room and a choice of one of the following: Jolly Ranchers, Spangles or Texan bar … tell us what you choose.
One board game? Hmmmmmmmmmm….Risk. Loved that game.
A comic? My favourite two comics (one story, would be the original death of Warlock and Thanos in Avengers Annual 7 and Marvel Two in One 2.)
Two magnificent comicsWritten and drawn by Jim Starlin, these are commonly thought of as highwater marks in comic history. The battle scenes are incredible, the art is sublime, and you genuinely care what happens to everyone involved. Spider Man, watching the battle unfurl involving Thor, Iron Man, Thanos et al, hides in a ventilation duct and say “whoooops, time to get my spider self out of here. I’m way out of my power league!” Which was ground breaking reality for comics at the time and a direct link into today’s realistic approach to superheroes. Unfortunately, these go for about sixty quid a piece in decent nick otherwise, I would recommend them.
Sweeties? Spangles. Jolly Ranchers bring me out in boils and Texan bars have an er, unfortunate look as every school kid at the time will tell you. Along with Nutty bars.
Finally, where can fans of Mark Barry find out more and purchase Violent Disorder?
Amazon US
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon UK
Mark, I have to go and feed the horses!
Oh that's a shame!?
It's been a pleasure being on your show and I wish you all the best with Violent Disorder and other books...
Ngaire, the pleasure as always is all mine.
The man of many (black) shirts cooks up a storm at SherwoodTowers Beer Garden (renovated) for Roy and Helen Sherwood, Jordan Sherwood,
Polly Sherwood, Callum, Freya, Green Wizard reader and
chief Wizardwatcher Kelly Sherwood ,and
urbane birthday boy Seth Wainwright
Carla - a parallel world.perfect score....
The Phil Naessens Show 8-6-2013 Pre-Season NBA Power Rankings
http://phillipnaessens.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/the-phil-naessens-show-8-6-2013-pre-season-nba-power-rankings/
On today’s Phil Naessens Show Phil is joined for the full hour by SLC Dunk Managing Editor Amar…..please join them as they give out their 2013-2013 pre-season power rankings.
On today’s Phil Naessens Show Phil is joined for the full hour by SLC Dunk Managing Editor Amar…..please join them as they give out their 2013-2013 pre-season power rankings.
History Trivia - Pope Sixtus II beheaded
August 6
258 Pope Sixtus II was beheaded during the persecution by Emperor Valerian.
939 Battle at Simancas - Spain defeated the Moors. Arab witnesses reported a spectacular eclipse of the sun that took place on the first day of the battle, a bad omen.
1181 Supernova was observed by Chinese and Japanese astronomers.
1284 The Republic of Pisa was defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
1806 Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated, ending the Holy Roman Empire.
258 Pope Sixtus II was beheaded during the persecution by Emperor Valerian.
939 Battle at Simancas - Spain defeated the Moors. Arab witnesses reported a spectacular eclipse of the sun that took place on the first day of the battle, a bad omen.
1181 Supernova was observed by Chinese and Japanese astronomers.
1284 The Republic of Pisa was defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
1806 Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicated, ending the Holy Roman Empire.
